Alaska

29th August

12 Comments

Apologies for the lack of posts, it has been a busy few days.  K1 has been with me, the weather has not been kind and ‘affairs of state’ have kept me occupied.  We are now making our way back north, Ketchikan tomorrow and presently sailing in Queen Charlotte Sound; north of us lies the Hecate Strait and Dixon Entrance, both of which have a gale forecast, O well…….  

Again, the post consists of photos taken since I last wrote, as K1 was with me, I went ashore more often than usual, so some sights of ports previously visited, but not visited proper.  Not in any special order, however those of Nature first.

As I’ve previously mentioned, the Juan de Fuca Straits is full of whales, a pod of over 100 are feeding at the western end of the Straits; once again, we reduced speed to safely pass through their feeding area

Mouths agape, 2 humpback whales surface, mouth full of herring. The disturbed water in the foreground is a shoal of herring.

A humpback surfaces briefly, taking in air before diving again.

In Sitka, the Fortress of the bears cares for orphaned cubs.  Their mothers were killed and now they reside here.


  

In Anchorage, we went on a tour with a professional photographer.

In Homer, a tour of the town and the Spit.

Taken from the road which runs along the Spit.

Berthed in Kamechak Bay, the photo taken from the bluffs above the coastal plain

Low tide and the beach on the Spit. The Spit itself is the remnant of glacial action, the seaward end being the rock that was bulldozed by the glacier to form the spit.

Taken from the middle of the road, looking east.

Quaint buildings line each side of the road; most are either restaurants of shops.

The Salty Dawg Saloon and the interior, dollar bills are pinned to the ceiling, each with the name of the ‘donator‘

A ‘Yurt’, they are rented out to visitors and while I was unable to see inside, I am told they are quite palatial

Fishing buoys make a colourful backdrop for an Arts store

The home of an eccentric Vietnam Vet

And his ‘escape pod’ foreground

 

Hubbard glacier was again wondrous and plenty of calving.

In contrast to Alaska, Victoria, British Columbia was warm and sunny.

Flowers were blooming all over the city

The Parliament building, which lies on the (original) harbour

Floatplanes are used for commuting and tours

Finally, taken last night as we made our way down the Puget Sound, a glorious sunset.

 

12 thoughts on “29th August”

  2. Since you are lucky to have so many cruises to Alaska can you say any one particular time is better then another?
    Since we cannot control weather is it just the luck of the draw as we say ?Our visit June 10 this year was good but just pretty cool.
    Can your answer be in your next blog post? Thank you
    Eleanor

  3. Well looks like we still had the best week in Alaska when we were on the Nieuw Amsterdam the week of July 29th.
    We had sun, calm seas, bit of wind but nothing like it’s been before our cruise (according to the various excision guides) and after.
    We did have fog the last day and Vancouver was smoggy, but that was more because of the smoke from the fires in the interior.

    We sure lucked out.

  5. Dear Captain,
    Another great set of pics – what color. Which Alaskan Cruise is this? It does not seem to show up in the HAL brochures I have.
    Best, Rosie

  6. You could easily be a professional photographer because all of your pictures are superb. Keep up the good work for all of us back home.

  8. Hoping the weather clears soon. Keep my sister, Monica and brother-in-law, Tom safe.

  9. Terrific set of photos… i knew one visit was not enough, though i blogged on hollandamericablog about 14 high end excursions… obviously plenty more to see
    Looking forward to sailing WC in January. Thanks for your work on these posts

  10. Hello, Captain Jonathan,
    I’ve been following your Alaska posts and while I think most of your pictures are exceptional – that bear picture wins for this Alaska season.

    We were just asked to be the Ensemble Travel’s Host on the Grand Asia in about a month – they must have had one cancel. So we are in crunch time trying to get everything set in a very short time – including new China visas which are a pain in the…

    I can’t imagine that you are Captain on that one and then the World Cruise so who is our Captain? I won’t get the travel documents for a couple weeks so I’m way out of the loop on this one. I wish we could see you soon, but probably the next time will be on the WC 2019.

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